Faces of Fall

Middletown North (N.J.) High School senior Tom O'Neill has made some noise in cross country and track, with a New Jersey Meet of Champions title among his notable wins. Yet he doesn't hear a thing -- not the footsteps of other runners nor the roaring crowd at the finish. O'Neill, who was born deaf, achieves his running success in quiet.

"It's all I've ever known," he says.

O'Neill received a cochlear implant at a young age but runs without an external piece of the hearing device, which could be damaged from sweat. The silence eliminates distractions. "I can focus on my race and my strategy," he says.

During O'Neill's sophomore outdoor track season, his coaches, Brock Silvestri and Rich Piro, started using hand signals to get instructions to their runner during races. But they had trouble communicating mile splits and more nuanced messages like "drop your shoulders." So Silvestri turned to a white board. Now he darts to various spots along a cross country course with a board and marker in hand.

"I have to run pretty fast to beat him there," Silvestri says. "I'm writing and running."

It seems to be working for O'Neill. This fall, his final high school cross country season, O'Neill hopes to better his 5K PR of 15:03, help his teammates improve and lead his team to a sectional win.

Silvestri says O'Neill's success comes from his drive. "If I didn't tell him I only wanted him to do 55 miles a week, he'd go out and do 150," the coach says. "He's got that determination. He doesn't need somebody to yell for him to run faster."

BIG SKY STALWART

Last December, Makena Morley (2) was third at the Foot Locker West Regional.

Makena Morley, a junior from Bigfork, Mont., wants to qualify for Foot Locker nationals all four years of high school. Since the series began 33 years ago, only 21 girls -- and one boy, Jorge Torres -- have made it to the meet four times. Morley's off to a good start: She won the Montana Class B individual state championship and placed ninth at Foot Locker her freshman year. Last season, she became a repeat state champ and raced to a 24th-place finish at Foot Locker, a result she found disappointing.

"I think I put too much pressure on myself," Morley says. "As a freshman, there's not any pressure. No one knows what you can do."

Now, she's focusing more on the fun and the enjoyment she gets from racing as she aims for the state record books and improvement against national competition. Morley, who laughs when admitting she "hated" the sport when she took it up in sixth grade, logs 30–40 miles a week. Unchallenged in most local meets, she races the clock.

"I try to stay relaxed," she says. "I go into every race and have a super-good time."

Morley's coach, Susan Loeffler, says Morley thrives on high intensity and "doesn't back down from a fight." She's also naturally strong, which Loeffler attributes in part to her family's active, outdoor lifestyle. All five members of the Morley family are talented runners, with Makena leading the way for her younger brother, a Bigfork freshman, and sister, a seventh-grader.

HEAVY HEARTS, FAST FEET

Last August, the Mill Creek High School boys cross country team in Hoschton, Ga., was rocked with heartbreaking news. Tajay Hoppines, a former runner for the Hawks who graduated in May 2012 and was pursuing his running career at Valdosta State University, had drowned in a river at a Valdosta team camp in Florida.

Friendly and funny, Hoppines was beloved by the team, Mill Creek boys coach Andy Christie says. He also was a tenacious No. 5 runner who helped the team win its first regional title and place second at the Georgia state meet in 2011, its best finish at the time.

The Mill Creek boys dedicated the season to Hoppines. "We said whatever we do this season, we're doing it for him," Christie recalls. The team wore bracelets in honor of him and put his initials on their jerseys.

Running with Hoppines as its inspiration, the team was tough to beat. They won several invitationals, took regionals and capped off their season with the program's first state title.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Runner's World participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.